Voters will not forgive Keir Starmer for taking them for fools over tax hikes

Just four months ago Labour was elected with a landslide majority after a campaign promising to restore trust in politics.

But the fledgling government looks like it will set fire to any remaining hopes of that with a budget that will have seismic consequences for years to come.

Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves correctly assessed that the country was fed up with the Conservative Party and correctly sensed the public would give them some leeway when it came to taking the "difficult decisions" they were planning.

But voters will not forgive those who try to take them for fools and the misdirection used by the Prime Minister and his Chancellor during the election was worthy of a television magician.

Over and over they promised not to increase income tax, VAT or national insurance.

In the manifesto, they limited it to one sentence, which read: "Labour will not increase taxes on working people, which is why we will not increase National Insurance, the basic, higher, or additional rates of Income Tax, or VAT."

That, they say now, made it clear that they were only referring to national insurance paid by employees, not employers.

But how many small business owners, who get up at the crack of dawn, toil away for long hours and take on the stress of having to meet a monthly payroll, believe they do not fall into the category of working people? It is unlikely to be many.

The PM and Ms Reeves repeatedly promised that the manifesto was fully costed and fully funded.

On taking office they discovered a £22 billion blackhole that immediately needed filling.

Around half of that was to cover the cost of settling the pay demands of public sector workers and put an end to industrial action.

The overwhelming majority of pensioners, including many on the breadline, are being stripped of their winter fuel allowance to help plug the shortfall.

Mysteriously, the payment was not mentioned in the manifesto in a break with the tradition of previous Labour election pamphlets.

What it did include, however, was a "non-negotiable" pledge to stick to rules about spending and debt.

One of those was re-written last week to free up £50 billion for spending on investment. So much for fully costed and fully funded.

Labour has at least four years before it has to call an election and will hope voters have short memories.

But trust is hard won and easily lost and this week's Halloween Budget is likely to give many nightmares for years to come.